Summary: From this article below, you can learn the best way to import Sony PMW-500 MXF footage into Avid Media Composer on Mac by transcoding the Sony XDCAM MXF to DNxHD for Avid MC.

The Sony PMW-500 XDCAM HD422 Camcorder is one of the most popular models in Sony XDCAM series. It supports the 50 Mbps MPEG HD422 codec and MXF recording. Well, in this page, we aim to share some tips and tricks to solve the Sony PMW-500 workflow on Mac like how to import Sony PMW-500 MXF to Avid Media Composer under Mac OS X smoothly. If you met any Sony PMW-500 to Avid Media Composer importing or editing issues like the below user had, go through the page to find the solution.

Q1: Hi, I just got sent the files from the cameraman and was expecting BPAV folders as usual but no, Sony have changed the format. After a world of pain trying to read the new folders ( which the camerman had jumbled on copying!) My understanding is: ony clip browser wont read them but sony XDCAM browser will. The MXF files will not directly import into ver 4 or my ver 5.

Q2: My client uses AVID and can't export XDCAM files we shot on a PMW-500 by using the XDCAM Browser. The files were recorded on SXS Cards transferred to a GTECH Mini Drive in their original form from the cards. They've downloaded the latest XDCAM browser from the Sony micro site and can view the files but can't export them into their AVID. Since I use FCP, I don't have experience with Avid .... has anyone else had this issue and/or know if there's a solution? Thanks!

What caused the problems? As we know, XDCAM HD422 products record and play back high definition video with 1920 x 1080 and 1280 x 720 resolutions using MPEG HD422 compression and the XDCAM HD422 video footage is wrapped in an MXF container, which is can not natively imported by many professional video editing application including the Avid Media Composer. So, it will be a bit hard when importing XDCAM HD422 video footage with Avid MC. While, things can be different if you get some help from third-party software Brorsoft MXF Converter for Mac.

Overall, the program is a professional yet easy-to-use MXF Converter on Mac OS X, which can not only convert Sony PMW-500 MXF files to DNxHD codec videos for Mac editing, but also provide simple video editing functions for you. This Mac MXF Converter can also transcode MXF videos from Canon C300 XF100, XF105, XF305, Pansonic P2 cameras for editing in Final Cut Pro 6/7, Final Cut Pro X, Final Cut Express, iMovie, Avid MC, Adobe Premiere Pro, etc on Mac OS X(Lion and Mountain Lion included). To solve MXF issues on Windows PC, MXF Converter is the right choice for you. Just download it and follow the tutorial below to get the work done.

Summary: If you wanna import and edit Sony PMW-500 MXF footages in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 without any issue, you can follow this article to convert Sony XDCAM MXF from PMW-500 to Premiere natively supported format.

As you know, PMW-500 is Sony’s first professional XDCAM HD422 Camcorder recording on memory cards. It supports HD 422 50-Mbps MXF record and playback based on highly developed MPEG-2 Long GOP compression technology. Even though Adobe announces Premiere Pro especially the CS6 software provides native support for Sony XDCAM, XDCAM EX, and XDCAM HD (including XDCAM HD 50) cameras and content with no transcoding required, smooth importing, strong metadata support, real-time editing, and flexible delivery options. While, something frustrating to the Adobe users is that when importing the XDCAM HD422 MXF files from Sony PMW-500 to Adobe Premier Pro, some error messages like missing codec, looped audio, etc occurred from time to time.

To help all the Sony XDCAM PMW-500 owners to get rid of this trouble, I will show you the easiest and quickest way to convert Sony PMW-500 MXF files to MPEG-2 for Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. First of all, free download Brorsoft MXF Converter for Mac.

Overall, this Mac Sony XDCAM MXF converter can easily convert Sony XDCAM, XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX MXF files without quality loss. It can generates best editing format/codec for filmmakers and video enthusiasts to use in different NLE apps, such as Adobe Premiere Pro CS4/CS5/CS6, Adobe After Effects, iMovie, Final Cut Express, Final Cut Pro 6/7/X, and more. If you are on Window PC, please get the MXF Converter. Just download it and follow the workflow using Premiere Pro CS6 with Sony XDCAM content.

Tip: If you want to set some parameters for the output profile, you could click the “Settings” button to set the output bitrate, encode, frame rate, resolution, sample rate, channels, etc.

Step 3. Start PMW-500 to Premier Pro CS6 Mac conversion

When the former steps finished, you can press “Convert” button to start rewrapping Sony PMW-500 files to MPEG-2 for Premier Pro CS6 on Mac OS X.

Once the conversion process is done, click “Open” button to get the generated MPG files. Then it would be easy for you to import Sony PMW-500 MXF footage into Premiere Pro CS6 as well as CS4/CS5/CC7 for smooth editing.